Help for refugees

Bev Creagh

Kind-hearted Lutonians have responded with typical generosity to an appeal to help Syrian refugees in Calais and Turkey.

Luton Community Housing was overwhelmed by the amount of clothing, sleeping bags, bottled water, and sanitary items collected. At one stage there were so many contributions a second drop off point had to be opened.

LCH joined forces with several other agencies and organisations to organise the appeal and then teamed up with Orphan Relief International to ensure the town’s donations were safely distributed directly to Syrian refugees.

Spokeswoman Daisy Craydon said: “This terrible crisis pulled at the hearts of so many people and watching the community come together to show their support was overwhelming.

“When we initially spoke of having a donation point, we never imagined we would receive half as much as we did and I would like to thank every person in Luton who has helped make this project such a success.”

He said: “After hearing all the horror stories, I wanted to do something physically to help.”

He found out a friend was taking the load to distribute in Europe and decided he wanted to be a part of it.

He added: “It was a great experience to meet some of these people first hand. They’d lost everything but they were still happy. The things we delivered really meant a lot to them, especially the families with babies and small children.”